The Supreme Court upheld the Biden administration’s regulation of “ghost guns” in a 7-2 decision Wednesday, rejecting a challenge brought by gun rights groups and several manufacturers.
The future of the crackdown remains hazy, however, as the new Trump administration directs a review of all Biden-era firearm regulations and could look to rescind the restrictions.
But for now, the Supreme Court kept intact efforts by the Biden-era Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to combat ghost guns, which are sold as do-it-yourself kits and difficult to trace, in response to an exploding number seized in crimes.
“Future cases may present other and more difficult questions about ATF’s regulations. But we take cases as they come and today resolve only the question posed to us,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority.
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
In 2022, the ATF began regulating ghost guns as any other firearm, subjecting the devices to requirements like serial numbers and background checks. Trump’s ATF, under new acting director Kash Patel, could look to rescind the regulation.
Five gun manufacturers and distributors, two gun rights groups and two individuals sued over Biden’s regulation, convincing a lower appeals court that the administration exceeded its authority because the definition of a “firearm” under longstanding federal law doesn’t cover the devices.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 defines firearms to include weapons “designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive” and the “frame or receiver” of such weapons.
The Biden administration argued that a parts kit used to quickly assemble a ghost gun is complete enough to meet the criteria.
Regulating the devices, the government argued, was critical given ghost guns’ exploding popularity. The Justice Department said law enforcement seized roughly 1,600 ghost guns used in crimes in 2017, and the figure quickly grew to more than 19,000 in 2021, with the devices usually being difficult to trace.